THE LETTER OF THE Master of the Lodge

GUTTA CAVAT LAPIDEM

Dearest Brother,
a Venetian friend of mine in his youth followed an oriental master, whom one day I also met.
The master one day asked, in reference to the inner journey:
“Is it better to have consistency in quality or quantity?”.
Most responded that it was certainly more important to be consistent in quality, avoiding mediocre experiences, to progress more effectively. But he did not agree: according to him, constancy in quantity was more important, because quality is a (possible) point of arrival, while it is the quantity that exercises us, whatever our starting level, and a little at the same time it makes us improve.
Just like the famous drop that hollows out the stone.
What kind of experience do you expect following the masonry path? What kind of result are you waiting for? What actions do you think are necessary to progress?
Somewhere I read that the brother with the degree of Master must be first of all himself, and therefore this degree describes an ideal point of arrival, which does not come automatically with some ceremony: in this sense I like to think of Masonic degrees not as a competence obtained or recognized, but as a task assigned to ourselves, what do you think?
And inner improvement is a long task, like the work of the drop of water digging the stone with great patience: therefore consistency in quantity can be decisive. In fact, the masonry path does not propose immediate cathartic experiences, but a progressive confrontation with its symbolic material, in a continuous, patient and gradual chiselling.
In last month's letter I recalled the Exhortation after Initiation, where we are invited to work Masonically every day: the Masonic method does not only concern what, but also how and when to work one's own stone.
An occasional drop of water, which falls discontinuously, will not be able to modify the stone, and not even a few isolated blows with a hammer and chisel, however well placed, will be able to give it a definite shape.
As I progressed in my masonry journey, I became convinced that the real difficulty in following it effectively, drowned as we are in profanity, is precisely being able to guarantee ourselves this continuity, this "constancy in quantity", as demanding as it is necessary.
More than a commitment made, I consider it a wonderful gift we can give ourselves.

S&F

W.M. M.B. Master of Lodge